Quality & Standards in Lancashire Fire Station - Research Paper Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Quality & Standards in Lancashire Fire Station Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 Introduction 3 Quality Assurance in Lancashire fire and rescue services pre government changes 4 Background history 4 Emergency response in Lancashire Fire and Rescue service 6 Lancashire fire and rescue service integrated risk management plan 7 Suggested Quality Assurance for Lancashire FRS 11 Application of the recommended QA systems to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within the organization 12 Conclusion and recommendations 13 Bibliography 14 Abstract Lancashire fire and rescue service is among the many fire and rescue services in United Kingdom which serves various counties. Fire and rescue services have been operating under the system of Comprehensive Area Assessment that was introduced by the UK government after abolishment of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment. In July 2010, the government of UK announced some changes that led to the abolishment of the Comprehensive Area Assessment. In response to these changes, the Lancashire fire and rescue service has set an Integrated Risk Management Plan that will help in adopting to these changes. The most appropriate quality assurance system is one that will comply with the legislations such as the Fire and Rescue Act 2004 and the Fire and Rescue Service National framework document 2008– 2011. The most appropriate quality assurance system that could be used in Lancashire Fire and rescue service is the ISO 31000:2009 which gives guidelines for operation considering the situations that prevail in the local area of the organization. Introduction The Lancashire fire and rescue service is the national, statutory emergency fire and rescue service that serves the Shire county of Lancashire, England. Lancashire fire and rescue service gives information to the members of the society on fire safety matters at home, in the community and also in the business. Following the recent changes in the UK government as from July 2010 and the changes in political directions, it has been announced that there will be an abolishment of the Comprehensive Area Assessment and cut local government inspections from October 2010. The study below is a report to the Chief Fire Office representing the assessment of the validity and benefits of the quality assurance systems used by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, recommendation on the appropriate quality assurance systems and the appropriate application of the recommended quality assurance systems. Methodology This paper is written after studying the information from Lancashire fire and rescue services, analyzing their quality assurance system and other processes in their organization. Information concerning various aspects of their response services and safety awareness in the community, business and in the homes has also been reviewed. The strategic objectives set by the organization to help in adapting to the government changes of 2010 have also been reviewed and recommendations of the appropriate quality assurance system give. Quality Assurance in Lancashire fire and rescue services pre government changes Background history The fire and rescue servicers in the United Kingdom function under different legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland. Since the beginning of 21st century, there has been a significant change in UK fire services ad this change has been facilitated by the devolution of powers in the central government, creation of new legislation and changes in organizational operation process due to terrorism threats and attacks (National Audit Office 2008). One major change took place in 2002 with the publication of a review of the fire services in UK by George Bain. He published the report named Independent Review of the Fire Service whose adoption led to various changes in the fire and rescue services in UK. In this publication, he suggested that the government should conduct an assessment for the fire services using the procedure adopted for Comprehensive Performance Assessment. The government then invited the Audit Commission to introduce a new inspection regime using the process for the Comprehensive performance Assessment that had been used for the local government. The aim of this assessment was to examine how the fire and rescue services were being run, assess their performance against the local and national priorities and also to examine how the fire and rescue services respond to local challenges. After the assessment, the results of the assessment rated 47 percent of the authorities as either good or excellent (Robertson 2004). In December 2009, the government introduced Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) to replace the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). CAA used to asses the efficiency in the performance of the local public services. Since the Comprehensive Area Assessment was introduced, Lancashire has been facing various challenges under this system. For example, most of assessment under the CAA did not consider the complexity in the community under which the FRS operated. They just ex0pectde to have all the requirements met but did not consider hindrances from the locality. The other problem experienced was the use of red flag for inadequate performance and green flag for the notable performance. Lancashire FRS felt that use of these flags could send a message to the public that may affect the relationship between the FRS and the members of the public. The many processes of assessment set under the CAA were also a burden to Lancashire FRS. CAA requires annual assessment and puts a lot of emphasis on self assessment. This may be too rigorous and adds bureaucratic workload and does not allow adequate time between the assessment and realization of the outcomes. Emergency response in Lancashire Fire and Rescue service The Lancashire Fire and Rescue service experiences around 25,000 incidents per year on matters such as fires, road accidents, chemical spills, floods, animal rescues and other forms of emergencies. Due to this high demand for their services, the service has highly skilled fire fighters who work round the clock to offer emergency response. Lancashire fire and rescue service also has 60-front line fire engines which are equipped with the modern equipments and supported by various specialist vehicles. Lancashire fire and rescue service is committed to the establishment of the highest standards of quality information regarding fire safety services and has made every attempt to ensure that the information presented is up to date and accurate. In their website, the Lancashire fire and rescue service has been providing information regarding safety at home, in the community and in businesses. The websites has also been giving information on how to prevent different hazards at home that may cause risks and also on how to minimize the risks. To help the home owners in preventing fire hazards in their homes, the Lancashire fire and rescue service has also been carrying out free home safety check that helps people to prevent fire from happening and also to enable people to escape in case the fire happens (GB Parliament: House of Commons 2006). Regarding community safety, Lancashire fire and rescue service has been issuing information concerning road safety, flooding, and also emergency response services. The organization has been helping the members of the community on how to respond to such happenings when they happen. In business safety, it is a legal requirement to have fire safety measures in place in all the premises and to provide means of escape for the employees and customers incase of an emergency. The fire and rescue service is allowed to take n action for the premise owners who do not comply with these requirements (Great Britain: H.M. Fire Service Inspectorate 2007). Lancashire fire and rescue service integrated risk management plan An integrated risk management plan is the process of assessing all the possible risks to life of individuals and the community that guides the long term plan of making the fire and rescue services improve their responsiveness to the needs of the local communities. Generally, it is a plan towards a safer community. Al the fire services in UK are required to have prepared plans on how they respond to emergencies so as to change the outdate plan of 1947. The standards of this plan follow the fire risk assessment of the buildings and do not take any reasoned account of the people or the real life risks of the society. The new plans are required to consider all the possible risks of the people living in that community and develop an effective plan for the safety of the general community based on reliable data. This is a legislative duty of the fire authority where the work is done by the fire and rescue service in that area in consultation with the community, other government agencies and fire and rescue services in the neighborhood. These objectives all focus on similar themes as those required by the Fire and Rescue Service National framework document 2008 – 2011. This framework focuses on the four themes which include prevention, protection and response, resilience, diversity and workforce and governance and improvement. The same themes area also reflected in the strategic objectives of the Lancashire FRS. The Lancashire FRS integrated risk management plan contains five strategic objectives. In defining their strategic objectives, the organization made special consideration to the language content and there was extensive consultation among the entire staff and the members of Lancashire community and other to make sure that their intentions are understood. The first strategic objective is to reduce the number of emergency incidents and their impacts. To achieve this objective, the Lancashire fir and rescue service intends to significantly expand their scale and scope of protection activities and prevention of the emergencies. The fire service also intends to conduct a review of the nature of their deployment arrangements regarding their emergency response capability. The other strategy is to improve on their partnership with other relevant agencies to ensure that they work together in reduction of risks. Finally, the service aims at ensuring that the organization’s arrangements for emergency response are resilient in all situations (Allocco 2006). The second strategic objective of the Lancashire Fire and rescue service is to ensure a safe, healthy, competent and representative workforce. The Lancashire FRS acknowledges that to appropriately deliver all their services, the organization requires a well skilled workforce that works in a safe an defective manner and is also a representative of the community being served. To achieve this objective, Lancashire FRS plans to make further developments and improvements in their health and safety management system, fully set in their assessment and development processes and also ensures that their workforce fully reflects the composition of the Lancashire community. The Lancashire FRS also intends to achieve the Level 5 of the Local government Equality Standards. The Local government equality standard gives the guidelines that encourage local response to circumstances that happen locally at the same time promoting continuous improvement. Level five of the equality standards is the process of achieving and reviewing the outcomes of the whole process (National Audit Office 2010). The third strategic objective is to reduce the FRS’s impact on the environment. Under this objective, the Lancashire fire and rescue service is concerned with the emergency aspect of their functions and whatever they can do to minimize the impact of their activities on the environment. The Fire and Rescue Act 2004 gave the fire authorities mandate to act in response to events that are likely to have negative impacts to the environment including those having impacts to life of plants and animals. Other legislations also require the fire and rescue services to ensure minimal pollution while carrying out their response activities. To achieve this objective, the Lancashire fire and rescue service plans that for the next three years, the organization will conduct a thorough analysis of the their general impact on the environment and develop a comprehensive strategy towards environmental protection. The Lancashire FRS also intends to introduce an effective system of environmental management and reduce their environmental impact in a measurable manner (Com Chief Fire and Rescue Advisers Unit 2008). The fourth strategic objective is help in building stronger, healthier and more sustainable communities. This was due to the introduction of the Health Act 2007 that requires local government and public involvement in community health matters. To achieve this objective, the Lancashire FRS plans to work in conjunction with the local people so that they can solve the local problems. The organization also ensures that it acts as a full and influential partner for all the local authorities in Lancashire. The other plan is to closely work with the partners to achieve common ambitions and increase value to all the activities through their work. Lancashire FRS also works to increase accessibility of their fire stations by the members of the public (Cote 2006). The fifth strategic objective is to deliver affordable value for money services. For Lancashire FRS to be elected as the best value authority, it must fulfill its legal duty in delivering services using its available resources in the most cost effective manner. To achieve this objective, Lancashire FRS intends that in the next three years, it should adequately invest in front line services and the organization’s asset base such as in buildings and also meet the efficiency targets given by the government. It also plans to maintain an affordable level of the council tax and also sustain its financial reserves and balances within the set targets (OECD 2010). Suggested Quality Assurance for Lancashire FRS The UK government changes of 2010 concerning the fire and rescue services have resulted to need for changes in the quality assurance systems. Things such as globalization require an improvement in the quality assurance system so as to offer high quality services that will meet the international standards. It is therefore necessary for the Lancashire Fire and rescue service to adopt the most modern techniques for fire and rescue operations. The current state of the nation requires a quality assurance system that focuses on the company quality is the most appropriate. The concept of company quality focuses more on issues of management ad people. The changes made various organizations to realize that it is important for all the working departments to approach quality with an open mind. This would lead to success especially where the management leads the employees into processes of improving the quality (Rivera 2007). The type of quality assurance that is most appropriate for the Lancashire fire and rescue services is one which complies with the Fire and Rescue Service National framework document 2008 – 2011. This document sets out the priorities and the objectives of the government regarding the fire and rescue services. The documents states clearly the expectation of the government concerning the fire and rescue services, government expectations for the fire authorities and the government support that could help in meeting these expectations (National Audit Office 2009). To meet these expectations, the most appropriate quality assurance system is the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard certification. The ISO 31000:2009 gives the guiding principles and general guidelines to be applied in risk management. These standards are applicable to nay public, community or private enterprise because they are not specific. The main advantage of these standards is that they do not require uniformity in the risk management processes across various organizations. This is because the design of these standards takes into account the changing needs of every organization, the specific objectives of an organization, processes, functions, context, projects, services, assets and the structure of the particular organization (Boone & Kurtz 2008). The validity of this type of quality assurance is that it is inline with the strategic objectives stated in the integrated risk management plan for the Lancashire fire and rescue services. With their strategic objectives focusing on the utilization of resources, management of the workforce and reduction of risks in the community, this type of quality assurance system that focuses of the quality of performance is well valid. This system is also beneficial for the long term goals of the organization. It is very important for every organization to have a quality assurance system which will ensure that the company’s performance is not always affected by changes in the government. A tight fiscal climate is also necessary for the survival of the fire and rescue services in the changing government policies. This is because it saves the organizations from collapsing due to financial challenges (Smeby 2009). Application of the recommended QA systems to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within the organization The most important form of quality assurance system is one that enables the organization to meet the needs of the clients and other stakeholders. In this case, the main needs to be met by the Lancashire fire and rescue services are mainly to offer the best emergency response to the members of public. The members of the public are the main clients while the stakeholders are the government and its agencies, plus other private agencies within UK (GB Parliament: House of Commons & Starkey 2008). The fire and rescue services in UK have been operating under the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004. This is an act of parliament that states that duties and powers of the fire and rescue services. The act has undergone several reforms and currently, the act that is in power is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. This is a statutory statement that gives responsibility to individuals within organizations to carry out assessments that will identify risks, manage them and reduce the risk of fire occurrences. This law was passed in October 2006 to guide fire and rescue services in England and Wales. This was aimed at correcting inconsistencies that were being experienced in the previous fire protection regulations (GB Parliament 2006). Therefore, with the above strategic plan of the Lancashire FRS, it will be possible to meet the legal requirements of concerning the fire and rescue services. Conclusion and recommendations Quality assurance is a very important aspect for the success of every organization. It acts as a guide for every process that may be undertaken in the organization and also facilitates meeting the objectives of an organization. Having a strong and well designed quality assurance system also enables the organizations withstand the pressures of the government al also be able to respond to changes in the government structure. I would therefore recommend the Lancashire fire and rescue service to adopt the ISO 31000:2009 standards as it might enable them to function properly with the current changes in the government. The ISO standards will also assist the organization to overcome the challenges such as those experienced during the time of Comprehensive Area Assessments. Bibliography GB Parliament: House of Commons, 2006, Communities and Local Government Fire and Rescue Service: Fourth Report of Session 2005-06, The Stationery Office, London. Great Britain: H.M. Fire Service Inspectorate, 2007, Fire and Rescue Service manual: Vol. 2: Fire service operations, Incidents involving rescue from road vehicles, Volume 2, The Stationery Office, London. National Audit Office, 2008, New Dimension: Enhancing the Fire and Rescue Services Capacity to Respond to Terrorist and Other Large-scale Incidents, The Stationery Office, London. Robertson, J, 2004, Introduction to fire prevention, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Allocco, M, 2006, Assurance technologies: principles and practices: A product, process, and system safety perspective, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Rivera, S, 2007, Fire safety, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Smeby, L, 2009, Fire and emergency administration: management and leadership practices, Jones & Bartlett, New York. GB Parliament, 2006, The Fire and Rescue Service: Session 2005-06, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London. GB Parliament: House of Commons: & Starkey, P., 2008, Communities and Local Government: departmental annual report 2007, second report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence, The Stationery Office, London. Com Chief Fire and Rescue Advisers Unit, 2008, Environmental Protection: Fire and Rescue Manual, Volume 2, Fire Service Operations, Volume 2, Newsco Publications, Birmingham. National Audit Office, 2009, New Dimension: Enhancing the fire and rescue services capacity to emergencies, Edward Elgar, UK. National Audit Office, 2010, Reducing the costs of procuring fire and rescue service vehicles, Edward Elgar, UK. Cote, A, 2006, Organizing fire and rescue services, Jones & Bartlett, New York. Boone, L. & Kurtz, D., 2008, Contemporary Business 2009 Update, Cengage Learning, Boston. OECD, 2010, Annual Report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises 2010: Corporate Responsibility: Reinforcing a Unique Instrument, OECD Publishing, New York. Read More